Albus
Albus Severus Potter was a weird boy, for the unfortunate lack of a better word.

And it wasn't in the way Harry Potter, his father, was a weird boy. At least he was the chosen one.

Albus was just Albus.

Not that he was some spoiled, bitter kid with a grudge against his famous dad. Oh, no. On the contrary, Albus loved his father and looked up to him greatly. His father was one of the kindest men he had ever come across in his eleven-year-old existence.

His father always took the patience to explain things to him. Sure, he got impatient every once in a while, but Albus had that effect on everybody.

But overall, Albus really wanted to be like his dad.

"Hello? Albus?" Scorpius said, waving his hand in front Albus's face.

Albus blinked in surprise. "Sorry, I must have dozed off again."

"For the fourth time this train ride?" Scorpius asked, smiling.

Albus's cousin Rose had introduced him to Scorpius Malfoy at the beginning of the train ride to Hogwarts. Albus never had problems with meeting new people, and Scorpius seemed like a nice kid. But he treaded carefully, trying not to say the wrong things. He often did that and for people who didn't know him or his condition that was enough reason for them to not like him.

Albus found people difficult to read, Scorpius particularly so. There was something bothering the boy that he told no one about. But Albus had learned enough to know that asking Scorpius about it wouldn't be really appreciated, so he kept quiet.

Albus remained observant of everything Scorpius did, in order to understand him better, all throughout the train ride, and before he knew it they were in the Great Hall, about to be Sorted.

Now this was something Albus was sure of. He would go sit there on the stool, and the Sorting Hat would tell him he was a Gryffindor and then he joined the Gryffindor table with most of his family. It worked out perfectly.

Scorpius had been Sorted into Slytherin, like Albus predicted. But he didn't seem happy about it. Nobody did, in fact.

The Slytherins all looked like he was something dirty under their shoe that they wanted to get off and Scorpius looked like he didn't care, holding his chin up and walking over to the table and sitting down.

Albus wanted to think about what was going on, but he was called up to the front to be Sorted.

He sat down and the Hat was put on him. As it fell over his eyes (it was way too big), he heard a voice only he could hear.

"Ah, Mister Potter. Finally I meet you. I feel a very Harry Potter-ish vibe coming from you."

"That makes sense, seeing as he is my father. Surely that must mean I'll be in Gryffindor, right?"

"Oh, certainly not, my sir. You contain a very different side from your father's character than your brother. You have a real, real desire to prove to everyone what you're worth. People tend to belittle you, don't they? You are ambitious, oh my."

"What does that mean?"

"That you'd do amazing in Slytherin, Mister Potter."

Albus eyes widened. That was not according to plan. He was supposed to be a Gryffindor, like his father and mother. Like his brother!

The Hat, as if being able to read his mind, said: "I've never been more sure of anything in my life, I can tell you. Even more sure than I was about your father being in Slytherin."

Albus was really panicking now. He looked around the Great Hall, breathing heavily, trying to find someone that could explain this to him. His eyes crossed with Rose's, who realized what was happening to him, but she couldn't help him from where she was. He then crossed eyes with Scorpius. He had dropped his "tough guy" act to look at Albus intently. He motioned for Albus to breathe and mouthed: "It's okay, stay calm. It'll be alright."

Albus breathed in and out and, as if Scorpius could somehow use a spell to calm him down, he slowly relaxed.

Would Slytherin indeed be that bad? It wasn't as if he had no friends there. He had Scorpius. And he could see his cousins outside of class. Victoire was in a different House than the others, too. So had Teddy been when he was at Hogwarts.

"I can guarantee you, Mister Potter, that Slytherin will be the right House for you."

Well, okay, Albus thought. Then put me in Slytherin.

"Alright, so it'll be SLYTHERIN!"

That was how it all started. The drama Albus was going through at the moment made him slowly start to regret giving the Sorting Hat permission to put him in Slytherin.

He was now in a fight with Rose, an indirect consequence of his House, and James would not stop bothering him about not being in Gryffindor.

Luckily, though, he was warmly welcomed into his new temporary home.

The Slytherins were very excited that the son of Harry bloody Potter was in their House and it seemed like they expected a lot of great things from him. Which didn't put any pressure on Albus at all, of course.

With all the tensions running through Hogwarts, something was bound to go wrong, which happened the first week of classes, they day before his detention with Professor Canvie. This time, it was in an empty hallway.

"Albus I need to speak to you."

Albus rolled his eyes. "James, Merlin, can't you just leave me alone? I don't know why I'm in Slytherin! Don't you think I'd also rather be in Gryffindor with the rest of the family?"

"But you could've asked the Hat if you could be put in Gryffindor! It did so with dad, too!"

"I did! But it didn't listen!"

"It needs to re-Sort you. I refuse to accept this!"

Albus got really irritated now. "James, stop it! Why do you dislike Slytherin so much? Is it because of Voldemort? Because that is the stupidest reason to annoy me."

"It's not just that." James paused for a second. "I just don't trust him."

"Who?"

"Malfoy, Al! I don't trust Malfoy!"

"Why? Rose doesn't like him either. Scorpius is the sweetest!"

"He comes to Hogwarts, son of a former Death Eater, and just expects everyone to like him, completely forgetting his parents were murderers. Remember when dad told us Draco Malfoy tried to kill Dumbledore?"

"Do you remember that dad told us that Draco Malfoy ultimately couldn't do it, because he was no killer? That's a weak argument, James."

"No but, as soon as the kid realizes he's not wanted here, he starts bitching around and being an arse to everyone except for you."

"You don't know Scorp, James. Something's bothering him, even I noticed that. That's why he acts this way!"

"I don't like him, Al. And I hope you stop hanging out with him."

"James Potter, if you don't get away from Albus right now, I will jinx you all the way to the Continent," a voice behind them said.

Scorpius came strutting forward, glaring angrily at James.

"Or what? He's my brother," James sneered.

"You need to stop babying Al. He's not in Gryffindor, I can imagine Albus feeling sad about that just as much as you. But he's trying to make the best out of it and it would work, if you and Rose would stop being all over him because he's not the perfect kid you want him to be."

"You don't know what's up with him, Malfoy. He needs us."

"Rose said the same thing, and it's true. I don't know what's up. But I trust Albus will tell me when he thinks it's time. Until then I will comfort him when he finds it necessary and only when he finds it necessary. He's eleven years old, for Merlin's sake."

James looked at him. "I warned you, Malfoy. About staying away from Albus." He gritted his teeth. "You think you can just come in here and ruin our life? You must think you are really something, don't you? Well, I can tell you, you are nothing. If I wanted to, I could gather up the whole family and we would curse you into oblivion. Malfoy, you are nothing."

"James! Enough! Just go, I don't want to talk to you anymore."

"No, it's okay, Al. Just finish your conversation. I'll be in the common room, if you need me." He left without another word.

"Scorpius? Are you okay?" Albus whispered, careful not to wake the others.

It was the middle of the night. Albus hadn't spoken to Scorpius since the incident in the hallway today. Simply because he had no time. Scorpius had already gone to bed by the time Albus returned from the library.

Albus couldn't sleep (just stress things, he had that often) and it was then that he heard a sniffle from the bed next to him. Scorpius's bed.

"Scorp?" He carefully opened the curtains draped around the blonde's bed. Scorpius sat there, knees pulled up to his chin and silent tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Scorpius! What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing, Al. Don't worry."

Albus pulled Scorpius off the bed and down into the common room. Making sure that it was empty, he sat himself and Scorpius on one of the couches.

Albus thought for a moment. This was the part where empathy comes in, but Albus's sense of empathy was underdeveloped, which meant that he had trouble understanding other people's feelings. He just acted on what he felt was right. What he had learned over the years was the right way to comfort someone.

"Clearly something's up, Scorp. You don't have to act tough for me. I already like you. There's no need for that anymore. What's wrong?"

Scorpius breathed in deeply, as way to calm himself and then started talking.

"I just feel so terribly and utterly hated by everyone, Al. I act tough and I pretend I don't notice the whispers, but I do. I hear every single thing people say about me and I see everybody's looks when I pass by them in the corridors. And I just want to act tough for you. Because your problems are way worse than mine and I don't want to bother you. But after what James said today. I just couldn't stop crying. I'm sorry."

Albus leaned over and hugged Scorpius tightly. "I'm sorry, Scorp. I'm so sorry."

"For what?"

"For how everybody acts towards you. About not noticing before. You're my best friend, Scorp."

Scorpius was a bit surprised that Albus would call him his best friend when they've known each other for only a week and he has such a close bond with his relatives. "Albus, stop apologizing. You've said sorry for others's actions three times now. It's not your fault. You can't help it. I just need you to be there for me. You know I'll be there for you."

"Don't cry, Scorp. I don't like it when you cry."

It was silent for a bit. Then Albus spoke up again. "I think it's stupid that I haven't told you what's wrong with me. I'm a prick."

Scorpius laughed. "Al, you don't have to. I think I already know anyway."

"You do?" Albus asked, surprised.

"You're autistic, aren't you?"

Albus blushed. "Yes."

"That's okay."

Albus's head shot up. "It is? Because usually people start treating me like I'm crazy or like I'm a walking time bomb and-"

Scorpius put his hand on Albus's shoulder. "Al, it's okay."

"No, but you need to understand. I can't function when things change, Scorpius. Are you willing to accept that?"

"Of course. You're my best friend. What exactly is it that everybody treats you like a child for?"

"I can't handle change, my sense of empathy doesn't work correctly, meaning I can't sense how other people feel unless they tell me, and I sometimes say things out of the blue, not realizing the effect it has on my surroundings. My family knows this and is afraid I'll get in serious trouble one day because of it. That's why they're so protective and why they don't like you. I have a tendency to really devote myself to friendships – which has nothing to do with my autism – and they're afraid you'll leave me if you find out about my condition and that I'll be devastated or something."

"I won't leave you over something so insignificant, Al. Trust me."

Albus smiled. "I'll hold you to that. But you need to promise me you won't feel miserable at Hogwarts anymore, okay? That's exactly what those people are trying to achieve, so don't give them that satisfaction."

"I won't," Scorpius said, smiling. "Now, we should really get to bed, or I won't be able to get up in the morning."

Next chapter: Louis
Louis seemingly has it all. He has friends and family always around him, a beautiful appearance couple with a charming personality and, his biggest pride, a beautiful girlfriend, Veronica Stevens. But something happens and his life falls apart after.

"I'm sorry, Louis."